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Teens uninsured and with low wages.
The United Nations Children’s Fund together with the University of Costa Rica, presented the VI State of Children and Adolescents in Costa Rica this week. The report highlighted two disturbing facts that are present in the country and they are that the workday for adolescents aged 15 to under 18, exceed the 36 hours that they can work by law can and also that their employers do not provide adequate social security.
National laws and international agreements are very clear in stating that a person under the age of 15 cannot work; this is illegal and can be punished, but those over 15 and under 18 must have a workday of no more than 6 hours a day, 6 days a week at most. At the same time, work should not prevent these young people from attending their study centers.
But most of those older than 15 who are working in Costa Rica do not attend classes. Among the reasons cited are the working hours of more than 6 hours per day that leave them too exhausted to go to classes, or the time available is not sufficient to study. 34% of these workers have only a grade school education and 58% have not completed high school.
The low academic preparation, as well as the socio-economic factors which these minors live with, which leads them to have to work for a living, condemns them to continue working in low-paying jobs which leads to a perpetuation of the cycle of poverty and vulnerability in which they live.
Added to the above is the fact that the wages that they are paid are much lower than what they should be paid by law. The work they have access to, for the most part, is in agriculture. However, 60% of this population is paid only ¢100,000 per month. The law states what is required as a minimum wage and it is set according to the work being done. If we take a look at what is the lowest minimum wage that is being paid in Costa Rica, we realize it is that of an agricultural laborer and the wage paid should be ¢145,000, which clearly shows that they are paid much less than they should be.
In the same way, as was already mentioned, apart from receiving very low wages, they are not paid social insurance and do not have work insurance when this is a requirement for employers to hire minors.
The problem goes beyond non fulfillment of the law by the employers, but also involves the patron and guide of children and adolescents which is the National Children's Office (PANI by its initials in Spanish) and the Ministry of Labor, who say they do not have enough inspectors to be able to follow situations like these, or the process isn’t followed as it should be when there are complaints due to the exploitation of child labor.
Many cases are never reported simply because those who suffer labor exploitation are unaware of their rights and nobody tells them what they are, and those who are in charge of doing it do not carry out the strategic actions which will enable the information to reach those most in need. Many of these teenagers see what they do as something normal because they would not otherwise have enough to live on, but the government has an obligation to provide the necessary tools so that the children can complete their education and thus have a better chance of improving their living conditions.
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